FRISÉE Endive

Also known as Curly Endive. Finely cut leaves add beauty and body to salads. Blanching, by tying the heads with a broad rubber band, yields a milder-tasting green. Lends a refined slightly bitter pop to salads.

Easy, fast... super fast, did I mention easy? Faster than all my other greens and lettuce combined. I forgot to water pretty much the entire winter season and it grew and it grew. It's still out there growing in temps up in the 90s in April. I haven't watered it in months. It has begun to flower though- beautiful periwinkle to lavender flowers. The flavor was far less bitter than I expected- having eaten this in many restaurants. I did not tie it up to keep the leaves pale or any of the other tips I read. I grew it with some marigolds around and didn't have any detectable insect damage at all. It's so hardy, I weed whacked my now "drought tolerant" plants to the ground thinking it would be the end, and it has come back and continued to grow more. Goodness... it grows like a weed. Very enjoyable- though not the most beautiful green to look at.